Wow, so. Here we are, two weeks on from the launch of Dog Country, my debut novel. (See here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DJYMQQO/ ) Independently publishing it has been a heck of an experience.

And, y’know what? It’s done great. With 60-65~ish sales (counting people using Kindle Unlimited’s read it free on a subscription thing) it’s succeeded well beyond my initial expectations. And if that doesn’t sound like a lot to you? For a debut author (it is, technically, my first and only novel) with no track record, it’s impressive. A very worthy chip in the wall, and one I couldn’t have made without all my fans.

When you talk about my books, give me a signal-boost on twitter with a retweet, link a friend, sign up for my mailing list, or even buy the book itself, you help me out. A lot. Reaching an audience is no easy thing, so, thank you for being part of mine.

There is one other thing I’d ask you to do, though — leave a review on Amazon.

Reviews on Amazon are a big deal for a book’s long term success. Yeah, there’s Amazon’s mysterious algorithms, but more importantly, each review helps a reader casually browsing for books decide on whether or not to take Dog Country seriously. The more reviews they see in the listing, the closer they’ll look. Plus, there are a number of advertising sites for indie books that just won’t look at me until I have 10, or 20, or 50 reviews. I would love to explore these things and see how well they work for me, so, if you have the time and you’ve finished the book, please do consider going back to the Amazon page to leave a review.

So. Other news as of late? Let’s start with the good.

Operation Caspian Tiger, the third part of Extinction Biome, a work-for-hire I’m co-author on, is coming out this week. (Parts one and two, Operations Honshu Wolf and Wild Tarpan, are already available, and you can check that out here: http://www.abaddonbooks.com/post/986 )

And the bad?

My short story, Pavlov’s House, which was both my first pro-sale and something I wrote as part of the early work on figuring out Dog Country, was ripped off by Galaktika.

What is Galaktika? It’s a Hungarian SFF magazine, which has over the past few years apparently ripped off a lot of authors. (There are some articles by A.G. Carpenter on the issue here: http://agcarpenter.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Galaktika ) They went ahead and translated it into Magyar/Hungarian, then sold it in print, without asking me for translation rights, without notifying me, without offering me a contract or payment. They stole my story.

Getting my head around that has been kind of traumatic for me. My writing career is one of the most important things I have in my life, and part of that career is having a say in where and how my work appears. Stories are part of a conversation, by submitting my fiction for publication, by trying to sell it, by getting involved in where and how it appears, I am adding to that conversation. But when I get ripped off…? I’m not sure I’m part of that conversation anymore, and that’s been bugging me immensely.

For now I’m in touch with SFWA (I’m a member, if you did not know!) and figuring out what I can/should do about it.

A crowdfunded civil war is Azerbaijan’s only hope against its murderous dictatorship. The war is Edane Estian’s only chance to find out if he’s more than what he was designed to be.

He’s a clone soldier, gengineered from a dog’s DNA and hardened by a brutal training regime. He’d be perfect for the job if an outraged society hadn’t intervened, freed him at age seven, and placed him in an adopted family.

Is he Edane? Cathy and Beth’s son, Janine’s boyfriend, valued member of his MilSim sports team? Or is he still White-Six, serial number CNR5-4853-W6, the untroubled killing machine?

By joining a war to protect the powerless, he hopes to become more than the sum of his parts.

Without White-Six, he’ll never survive this war. If that’s all he can be, he’ll never leave it.

Well, as I get more into self publishing stuff, it’s pretty clear that $2.99 was kinda steep for some short stories.

Also, since I intend to have a novel out at the end of the month, I figured it was about time that I get my pricing levelled out.

Oh. Novel? Yeah, it’s called Dog Country, and I’ll start posts with news about that when it’s actually out — for now, here’s a peek at the cover:

Nice, yes?

If you’d like a preview, as a new customer, you can find one in the back of War Dog and Marginalized Populations. Unfortunately I can’t get Amazon to push updates to previous customers just for this, but I can give you a free copy of the preview if you join my mailing list here. You’ll be able to pick the preview up through the confirmation e-mail, plus get immediate notification when Dog Country’s actually released.

When exactly will it be released? End of the month, but that’s not quite set in stone — I am still making final edits and I may wind up deciding to make a few more — so for news on that keep an eye on my twitter feed (@foozzzball) and mailing list and all that stuff!

So. I’ve been laid up with pneumonia for most of the month, including a six day stay in hospital to receive treatment with IV antibiotics and ventilators after my lungs more or less decided to stop working.

Thank heavens for the NHS and fie on any politician trying to pull it apart.

Other than that, not much has been happening, but I hope to change that once my ability to metabolize oxygen returns to something like normal. Still rather poorly, unfortunately, but well on the way to normalcy.